Every console and instrument in Wildfire...
is plugged into the main computer on a time-sharing basis.
All our key lab studies are done on automated machines.
I prefer the personal touch.
It's hard to come by in those suits.
- Have you worked in them? - Not for real. But I've been drilling for three months.
Thank God for an expert. This sort of thing's new to me.
It's new to all of us.
Until now, Wildfire's been like a game.
We've even had simulation biowar games here...
with live subjects... volunteers.
I mean, I'm scared.
I never believed this could really happen.
Well, it has happened.
I'll need some lab tests.
Use this to check off what you want.
Just touch the pen to the screen.
You draw the bloods, I'll do the physicals.
Use the bar.
The tunnel seals off automatically behind you.
The only way you might possibly break your suit is with a scalpel,
and a surgeon isn't likely to do that.
Bio-safety to S.L. An animal in airlock 0-9-5.
Reconfirm red R.D.P. status before transfer.
Second scan completed.
Score, nothing to nothing. Go to 100 power.
No, Ruth. Use only one microscanner.
You being paid by the hour? We could cover the capsule in one half the time.
There's less chance of missing something when we both concentrate on one screen.
Let's go directly to the inside. We can assume they put the Scoop on the thing...
to scoop something into it.
They sure got what they were looking for.
We're not here to make accusations. We have a job to do...
purely as scientists. Maybe not so pure.
Continue the scan, Ruth, on the outside.
No, don't do that. We'll use the hands.
Nothing can happen, sir. I'm faster than the hands.
I want you out of the hot room.
B.Z. Doris to I.Z. Alice.
S.D.T. energy output is 1.8 to 3.0 joules...
with rate two to three milliradians.
And we still need those blankets.
No sweat, sir. Those cages are airtight.
I wish you would sweat a little more, Toby.
Sweat is a safeguard against some kinds of bacteria and carelessness.
Use the hands.
Wow!
Transmitted by air, as we thought.
Now we've got to determine its size.
Could be a gas or some kind of a virus.
We'll use a hundred angstrom filter to begin.
About the size of a small virus.
All systems go, sir.
Whatever it is, it's larger than a virus.
We'll try a one micron filter.
Hang in there, baby.
He must be pretty big. I'm gonna get me a fly swatter.
Do that. Here goes with two microns.
Uh-huh.
Nasty.
At least we'll be able to get a good look at it. Dutton to Stone.
We've just found out its size: about two microns in diameter.
Big enough to be a complete cell. Interesting.
There's a good chance it's alive. Airborne transmission?
Yes. What have you found?
So far nothing. Our Nobel laureate here...
won't scan on the inside because he says... All right, Ruth.
Thanks, Charlie. Keep at it.
It's pointless to go on scanning outside.
If it's two microns in diameter, it would've showed up at 440.
True, but we didn't know that before, did we?
We'll start with five power on the inside.
Stick to established procedure. Establishment gonna fall down and go boom.
Switch to manual, Ruth. The interior's too irregular...
to probe on automatic.
More light, huh?
Here's his blood value now.
Half normal. Severely anemic.
Wake up, sir.
Can you hear me?
What's your name?
J-Jackson. What?
Jackson.
Stay awake, Mr. Jackson.
Stay awake!
Tongue blade.
Sixty-eight degrees on 1-4-0-7.
Sixty-one on 1-2-0-3.
Loss rate is minus 0-0-12.
Please copy and confirm all receiving locks.
You can tell you're a bachelor. What was that?
I didn't say anything.
We're doing an isotope scan.
How the bugs get into the body. Thought you should watch it.
I assume it was inhaled. Not likely it's absorbed through the skin.
That's what we'll find out now: the mechanism of death.
We'll look at a replay of that at speed 6.
That tells us what we want to know, Hall.
The organism is inhaled.
The clotting begins in the lungs and spreads outward.
I didn't think it possible.
I didn't think the total volume of blood could solidify that fast.
I hoped maybe one crucial clot might form in the brain, which was what made them go insane,
and then the rest of the blood clot more slowly.
We'd have a chance to cure that.
Cure what? We don't know what it is.
Stone and Leavitt haven't been able to isolate the hellish thing.
Of course they will in time.
Of course.
Hold it.
At the edge of that shadow, I think...
Me too.
It's an indentation.
Yes, about the size of a pencil point.
Go to 40.
Go to 60.
Jeremy, do you think maybe...
Maybe it's just a grain of sand.
Go to 80.
What about the bits of green?
Paint. For God's sake!
Pistachio ice cream! There's no basis to assume it's anything yet.
You're too good a scientist not to be thinking the same thing I am.
If this is really something new, some brand-new form of life...
The best hope of cracking it is to be grindingly thorough...
with the help of computer number one.
Okay? Now let's get on with it.
Hold it.
More pistachio?
I count four patches.
Keep going. I'll computerize the coordinates.
Let's take a look at the rock at 100.
I doubt that's what knocked the capsule off trajectory.
Unless the rock was going at tremendous speed,
or unless it's terribly heavy.
For Pete's sake, Ruth, it can't be that heavy.
Hall and I could lift the capsule.
However, it's possible the rock is different in space; out there it might do anything.
Maybe it has elastic properties we don't even know yet.
Let's have a look at the green patches.
They must've come off the rock,
if it is rock.
You know something?
They do look like spatters of paint.
Let's go back to the rock and see it at 440.
If that's a meteor, it's a damn peculiar one.
This left border over here,
it's smooth, almost like an artificial surface.
Painted, maybe. Luminous paint.
If I keep watching it, I might think so.
Wet paint sign and all.
Jeremy? What?
Nothing.
You okay?
It's just my eyes are tired. We've been at it five hours straight.
We'll take a caffeine break in a minute.
First I'd like to see one of the separate patches of green at 1,000.
Did you see that? I saw it.
You didn't change the lighting? I didn't touch it.
Looks alive. Yes.
It's bigger than two microns.
Which means the infection is spread by a mere fraction of the green.
I'm bringing down cameras.
Let's have the other microscanner.
Stone to Level Control. I need a Mic-T. Roger. Will send.
Jump it up to 1500.
Microscan doesn't go any higher.
We can get 1500 light magnification in microchemistry.
I'll send the rock through.
Attention C.L.T.s on levels 4 and 5.
Main computer shows capacity versus access time...
at ten to the twelfth bits.
For any change in memory configuration,
C.L.T.s must check their unicom op.
Beautiful, sir.
I'm the Mic-T. You're real sharp on the hands.
Thanks. Nice to know one hasn't lost one's touch.
The next step is to find out what makes it grow.
We'll need samples from the scoop to send through maxcult for culture and isolation.
Roger, sir. In work.
Good God!
It's growing.
Not so good.
Naturally he has acidosis. His blood pH was nine points off normal.
But why? Stupid machine! What makes his blood too acid?
Ask the patient.
Bio-safety to S.L., sectors 3 and 6.
Give us a code 3 when you get it.
Mr. Jackson?
Now, don't be scared. I'm a doctor.
Bull.
Where am I?
A special laboratory in Nevada.
We brought you here from Piedmont. You're sick.
It's this damn stomach of mine.
Bleeding? Hell, yes, bleeding!
Bleeding in your stomach? You have an ulcer?
Damn tootin'. Two years.
But you must have pain. What do you do for it?
Aspirin...
and squeeze.
Squeeze? What's that? Ain't gonna tell ya.
So you're a Sterno drinker, huh?
Works good.
Give him squeeze.
What's the baby's name, Mr. Jackson?
- You the nurse? - Uh-huh.
Shoot!
Can't see your legs.
Do you know the baby's name?
Give us a butt first.
Smoking isn't allowed here.
Then go fish.
Yeah. When you're finished,
we'll transfuse Jackson and start ice water lavage.
He has a two-year history of bleeding ulcers.
You seem delighted. It may be the reason he survived.
If only our young gourmet weren't so normal.
Well, let's hope nothing changes that.
We might have to before this is over.
They should've dropped the bomb.
They should've dropped it two days ago, General.
This Phantom crashed a good 60 miles beyond the cordoned area.
Men on the ground can't cordon off airspace, sir.
I just don't understand why the Wildfire Team...
hasn't beefed about the delay in 7-12.
It's been almost 24 hours, and not a word from them.
I don't think Piedmont had anything to do with this crash, Manchek.
It was a fluke.
That plane was only over the W.F. area for two minutes at 23,000 feet.
It's a routine training mission accident, I bet you.
Pilot error. Let's go.
Check with Wildfire Message Center, Delta Five.
Make sure everything there is nominal.
Send me word on scrambler at Big Head crash base. Okay.
Checklim program completed. All circuit banks nominal.
Same thing on the M.C.N. console, Captain.
Just a minute, Dr. Robertson.
You're saying Stone's $90 million facility, which you recommended,
was knocked out by a sliver of paper?
You tell that to the taxpayers!
These were highly-trained electronics men, Senator,
looking for an electronic fault.
The trouble was purely mechanical of the simplest kind.
But for them, it was like trying to see an elephant through a microscope.
The sliver had peeled from the roll...
and wedged between the bell and striker, preventing the bell from ringing.
I'm convinced we're being held incommunicado.
Very flattering. We don't know much more than when we got here.
We know about Scoop now.
It's possible what Scoop found was no accident.
I suspect they were looking for the ultimate biological weapon.
Sounds like you're getting a little paranoid in this fun house.
What does Stone think... about the ultimate weapon, I mean?
We've isolated the organism.
It's in microchemistry.
We'll show you. Watchdog to electrical support...
All right, Lieutenant.
Albuquerque Center, this is Air Force 561.
Go ahead 561. My air hose is coming apart...
like it's dissolving!
Everything made of rubber is coming apart!
I feel funny.
It's a fluke, a vibration effect maybe.
Let's get up there.
Has Wildfire been informed? You mean the germ people?
It went out to them on the scrambler an hour ago. This they can't ignore.
I.B. control to cafeteria level 3.
Number 4 Charlie hatch shows condition blue.
Alter responsivity characteristics until you get condition green.
Ready.
Nothing so unusual about our rock after all.
Hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, sulfur, silicon, et cetera.
Except the black rock isn't rock at all.
It's some kind of material similar to plastic.
How about that?
The green is even simpler.
Hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.
The four basic elements of life on Earth, nothing else.
That's a relief.
I'd have been happier if it'd turned out not to be alive.
Green stuff, you really had us going for a while.
A.A. analysis results are ready, Dr. Dutton.
Something's wrong. It's not registering.
Yes it is, sir.
It's just registering double-zero, double-zero.
We'll switch to computerized analysis.
No amino acids!
No proteins, no enzymes, no nucleic acid.
Impossible! No organism can maintain life without them!
You mean, no Earth organism.
It must have evolved in a totally different way.
You got it. It doesn't come from here.
Without chemical reactions there can't be life,
yet it grows, reproduces... Wait!
The infection at Piedmont has been stopped by the bomb.
We're secure at Wildfire. We have everything we need to achieve a breakthrough.
All we have to do is attack this problem like any other in science.
You could spend years working on a thing like that without solving its structure.
But when you do, there'll be some red faces around. It could change everything.
Great.
Ruth, since Kirke isn't here, you take over the growth program in microbiology.
We're halfway home if we find out what will keep that from growing.
Charlie, you work with me on the E.M. Hall... All right.
Let me get back to my patients. I'm sure they were protected by the same thing:
some simple mechanism I just don't recognize yet.
There's got to be something that the old man and baby have in common.
Oh, Hall?
Five minutes. You told me before.
Yes, we wouldn't want you to get too far from the substation now.
Men, keep a sharp eye open for pieces of rubber.
I'll repeat that for you. Keep a sharp eye open for pieces of rubber.
Major! Major Manchek!
Take a look at that, sir.
We just found this, General. It's a human bone.
Arm, I think.
It looks picked clean, almost like it was polished.
That's right. Well, I don't get it.
There is no actual rubber on the Phantom F-4, General.
It's all a synthetic plastic compound called polycron.
It has some of the characteristics of human skin.
What the hell is that?
What's left of his oxygen mask. It's made of polycron.
I'd say it was done by a chemical reaction of some sort.
Or maybe a microorganism. Meaning?
Meaning there was something in that plane that consumes plastic.
How's Maxcult coming, Ruth?
Will you be finished by the midnight conference? Easy.
Good. You can give us the results then.
Feeling better, aren't you, Mr. Jackson?
Yep!
Do you always have to wear that iron suit?
Yep!
Maybe you'll tell us the baby's name now, Mr. Jackson.
Manuel Rios. Mex.
Real little heller.
Squalls mornin', noon and night.
Neighbors wouldn't let 'em keep their windows open.
Do you sleep with your window closed?
No sirree, Bob.
Fresh air fiend.
Tell us what happened, Mr. Jackson.
I don't want to think about it.
You know what people will say?
Piedmont was bad. That's why it was punished.
First the town went crazy and then was destroyed.
You're crazy!
Folks at Piedmont was good, decent, normal folks.
The man we found dressed up in his doughboy's uniform, call that normal?
Pete Arnold, who worked at the store.
It was the disease. How do you know?
'Cause the only thing wrong with him before that night was sugar.
Diabetes? Did he take insulin?
A couple of times a day.
Hated the needle.
I tried to talk him into usin' squeeze.
Insulin. If he missed his treatment, he'd go...
Thanks, Mr. Jackson.
Oh, my God!
Central C.C. to big P.C. control, all levels.
Testing laser system.
Please maintain random fringe drift...
within ten percent of initial value.
Dr. Leavitt, you have a midnight conference. The signal has struck twice.
I heard!
I-I've been busy.
The important thing is something can slow it down.
I think it's some kind of blood disorder.
If the old soldier missed his insulin treatment, he'd go into acidosis.
The same as Jackson on Sterno.
I'll bet Leavitt finds the organism shows no growth on some of the blood cultures.
What's wrong with the baby's blood?
- Nothing... so far. - Then you're back where you started.
No. Somehow they're all interrelated.
I'll have the answer when I know why a 69-year-old Sterno drinker with an ulcer...
is like a normal six-month-old baby.
Did you get any no-growth readouts... No, but I'm not finished yet.
You told me you'd be finished. I decided to play part of it back.
- What for? The first time around should be... - Knock it off, Hall!
Wait. Wait.
We're all tired.
Tired people make mistakes.
They draw wrong conclusions, they drop things.
That mustn't happen.
Starting now, I want the team to get six hours sleep out of every 24.
Suits me.
Before turning in, shouldn't we file for a code name?
Yeah, good idea.
Nine over 4 over 8...
under 167.29.
Auto check in grade.
Why Andromeda? Andromeda's our...
Stone!
"Directive 7-12 has not been acted upon.
Alternative directive 7-11 now in effect."
They didn't drop the bomb! It's an M.C.N. transmission sent yesterday.
Idiots!
Put me through to Dr. Robertson.
In work, sir. Burke,
you didn't special alert an M.C.N. message to us.
There haven't been any, sir. The bell didn't ring...
Don't argue, damn it! I've got one in my hand.
Well, well. About time we heard from you.
There has been a communications foul-up. Never mind that now.
Why hasn't that bomb been dropped on Piedmont?
The decision on 7-12 isn't final. It was just postponed 48 hours.
By then the disease could spread into a worldwide epidemic.
It's because of rash statements like that the president doesn't trust scientists.
Warn the president it may already be too late.
Stay on his back, Robbie. You've got to make him call a 7-12.
Can you get me another appointment tonight, Grimes?
Now let's all just keep our heads screwed on.
Any thoughts about the Phantom crash?
We sent you a couple messages on it.
A Phantom jet strayed over the cordoned area around Piedmont.
- Any other information? - Well, the pilot said...
that all the rubber on the plane was dissolving.
His last communication was pretty weird.
- Like he was crazy? - He was mighty confused, that's for sure.
Robbie, it's your job to get the president to activate a 7-12 immediately.
If he doesn't, there's no guarantee anyone west of Piedmont will be alive in the morning.
Simmer down, Professor. I'll wake the boss.
But General Sparks says the crash was just a fluke.
Forget the crash, Robbie. Stay on that 7-12 and get back to me.
We'll be working around the clock.
That's a good slice. It's too thick.
I'm setting it at 800 angstroms,
and I'm going to a higher magnification.
Now we're getting somewhere!
Yeah. But these can't be more than a few molecules in depth.
That's the one, that silver one.
This is a Villabach alert, all levels.
This is a Villabach alert.
Electromagnetic waves are not registering on the D.I.R.
Sample in the button and sealed, Charlie. Start the vacuum pump.
Stone, can I see you?
I have the results of the growth cultures.
No, we can't leave now. We have an Andromeda cell in the E.M.
Okay, Charlie, let's put it on the screen.
Let's run it through the computer for contrast expansion.
Stone? What do you think?
It looks like a crystal.
- Well, gentlemen, there's our answer. - To what?
How Andromeda functions without amino acids.
Crystalline structure. Yes.
I've often thought that living matter...
might be based on crystals of some kind.
All these wedge-shaped compartments,
they'd serve to separate biochemical functions very well.
It's dividing.
In a vacuum, bombarded by electrons? It shouldn't even be alive!
That's what I wanted to tell you. The growth program...
shows Andromeda can live on anything.
Only gas and light affect it.
- You didn't get any no-growth results on the cultures? - None. Look.
The poorest growth occurs in pure oxygen...
incubated under infrared light.
Andromeda grows best in carbon dioxide and hydrogen...
incubated under X rays.
No excretions.
No waste of any kind. You'd expect that.
Andromeda's perfect for existence in outer space.
Consumes everything, wastes nothing.
Good Lord. Stone to Delta Five. Put me through to Robertson immediately.
What? God, I hope we're not too late.
- Tell me. - It functions like an atomic reactor.
An atomic blast could provide it with enough energy...
to grow into a gigantic supercolony. In one day.
You can relax now.
We've just left the president. He agreed to drop the bomb.
No, you've got to stop 7-12 from being carried out.
Now, wait a minute! We're not playing Ping-Pong.
We just got through telling the president... For God's sake, go back!
It grows when exposed to X rays or any source of energy.
Tell him no nuclear device must be detonated anywhere near it.
We just found out Andromeda works like a little reactor:
Converts matter to energy, energy to matter directly.
Then the bomb would only provide a fantastically rich growth medium. Understand?
No, but I'll pass along the recommendation.
The boss will be pleased to know...
that he made the right decision on 7-12 in the first place.
Congratulate him on his scientific insight.
And, Robbie?
You'd better get the atomic self-destruct in here disarmed as soon as possible.
Right. I'll start on the clearances now.
It'll be done by morning.
No, no, no. That won't work until the damn thing's going.
All the molecules appear to be the same.
Yes. Andromeda isn't composed of different substances...
like a normal cell.
All the subunits are the same.
Damndest thing I've ever s... Boy, a single substance.
Then how the hell does it operate?
How does anything so simple utilize energy for growth?
No way of telling from that structure.
Yes, there is. With this new data,
we can get a computerized version of how Andromeda functions.
They're not uniform. Could be mutations.
What the devil? 601?
The computer's overloaded! Too much data coming in too fast.
Dividing and mutating at the same time?
And nothing to stop it.
Normal Earth checks and balances don't exist for it.
We'd better get a biomath mapping of its new growth potential and spread.
According to this, there'll be a supercolony...
of Andromeda over the entire Southwest...
Jeremy, these are biological warfare maps.
Why, yes, so they are.
Oh, but simulations, Charlie.
Defensive. It's just a scenario.
That's not the point, for God's sake!
Wildfire was built for germ warfare!
Wildfire and Scoop. And you knew, Stone. You knew it!
That's not true, Ruth. I learned about Scoop the same time you did.
They already have Andromeda programmed.
The purpose of Scoop was to find new biological weapons in outer space,
and then use Wildfire to develop them. It stinks!
You're blowing your tops. We have no proof.
The map! Don't be an ass!
That map only shows what Andromeda could do in the hands of an enemy.
Enemy? We did it to ourselves.
Perhaps, but this is hardly the time to organize a protest.
Another giant leap for mankind!
I wish I could believe you.
Whether you do or not, the only important thing now is to find the antidote.
Let's get on with it, Charlie.
Test the cultured organisms for biologic potency.
All right, I'll run them against a rat in autopsy.
I want to seal up the capsule. Watch it.
Andromeda's altered. Its effect might be radically different.
I'll try to get us a photo of the mutated form.
Photo lab to red map.
The offbeat access reference reads at 649-F, 1,500...
Please copy.
This may be the key to beating Andromeda.
How, by starving him to death? No, but don't feed him until I tell you.
Contamination!
A seal has broken in autopsy. A seal has broken in autopsy.
Emergency procedures are in effect.
What's the matter? Infection spread. Autopsy.
Is he alive? I should've been with him! Dr. Dutton!
It's no use. It's sealed off.
Dr. Hall!
She's in trouble.
Ruth, are you...
She's got the germ!
Someone bring 100 milligrams of phenobarb in a syringe fast!
There's no danger. She isn't contagious.
There's no danger!
... to L-5, P.I.E. and E.T.E.
Your second quarter rest period has been canceled.
Time R.A. has been reassigned...
according to crash program "E."
Come on!
Come on. She can't hurt you.
Wasn't she with Dr. Dutton?
No, it's epilepsy. Give her the injection. She'll be all right.
Good girl. Thanks.
I'm scared. Oh, Lord, I'm scared.
You'll be okay, Charlie. We're pumping pure oxygen through your lab now.
We know Andromeda doesn't do well in oxygen.
He's alive! Where have you been?
Leavitt had a seizure. What?
Epilepsy. The red light flashing at 3 per second brought on a fit.
Why in the hell didn't she tell us about it?
No top lab would have her if they knew. Insurance, prejudice, all that crap.
From the Middle Ages.
Amazing he's still alive.
Well, it's been three minutes.
He's on pure oxygen. I don't know how long that can hold him.
We're, uh, working on some ideas, Charlie.
Ask your germ warfare friends.
They have lots.
Try to stay calm.
What happened?
Seal must've broken in there.
They had the same thing at the lunar lab.
That's why we use polycron gaskets here.
At least the rest of Wildfire is secure.
Poor devil.
Look at the way he's breathing. He's scared to death.
That oxygen should relax him, slow down his breathing.
No, we want him to breathe fast!
In Piedmont, Jackson was crocked on Sterno. Sterno acidosis.
Acidosis: rapid breathing.
- What the hell you doing? - Turn off the oxygen. Put him on room air.
The baby, he's normal. Cries all the time. Can't catch his breath.
Rapid breathing? It just can't be that simple. It isn't.
Dutton, I think rapid breathing helps.
Don't let the bug in your lungs long enough to penetrate blood vessels.
I want to turn off the pure oxygen, then you start breathing room air as fast as you can.
No! No. I was running a test in here.
The air is thick with Andromeda. Experiment with your own life, damn it!
We won't do it, Charlie. Take it easy. I know I'm close.
I'm sure it has something to do with blood chemistry and breathing. Dr. Hall.
May I please feed the baby now? He's been crying steadily...
That's what I want. Keep him crying.
Run another blood value on him. Get his pH measurements.
Yes, Doctor!
With all the yelling, blowing off carbon dioxide, the kid should have too little acid.
Alkaline: a blood condition just the opposite from the old man. Too much alkali.
Well, what good does that do Dutton?
Karen, where's the blood test?
It's coming through now on your console.
Hell of a way to run a hospital.
Just what you expected.
Opposite blood chemistries, the baby and the old man.
One of them should be a dead opposite But he's not.
There must be a connection!
They both stayed alive at Piedmont breathing the same air.
One's blood too alkaline, the other too... acid.
Yes. Yes!
Dutton, I'm turning off the oxygen. Breathe fast and hard.
No, Jeremy! Don't let him cut off my oxygen.
No! The air in that room is loaded... Air doesn't matter.
Blood does. That's the answer.
I need 30 seconds to run a growth program.
He could die in 30 seconds.
Besides, Leavitt checked all the growth programs.
She might have missed something. Epileptics blank out.
I want to see how the growth of Andromeda is affected by blood chemistry. The pH...
Oh, damn!
You do it.
Excellent. The graph's practically straight up and down.
That means Andromeda can only exist within a narrow range of pH.
A very narrow range.
On either side of the tolerance range, no growth.
Nothing, right? It's exterminated.
Dutton, our troubles are over. Look at your console.
It grows within a narrow range of pH. A very narrow range.
If your blood's abnormal, if it's too acid or alkaline,
Andromeda can't survive in the body.
So breathe as fast as you can. Go into respiratory alkalosis.
Yes, fine. That'll shoot your blood chemistry to hell.
It's what happens to the baby when he cries too much, or the old man on Sterno.
How do you feel? Okay.
A little dizzy, but okay.
He can't keep breathing like that forever.
He'll hyperventilate, pass out. We've got to get him something to alkalize his blood.
We can't in there.
Charlie!
That cage... in the hot room.
Right in front of you.
It's alive!
The rat's been exposed as long as I have.
Longer. I exposed it to the cultures before the seal broke.
Precisely. Andromeda's mutated to a noninfectious form.
Holy!
Where does that gasket lead? Central core.
It connects all the labs.
The gaskets are decomposing. It's Andromeda.
Next sector. There's no substation in this sector.
Level 5 is sealed. Level 5 is sealed.
Emergency procedures are in effect.
When the bomb goes off, there'll be a thousand mutations.
Andromeda will spread everywhere. They'll never be rid of it.
There are now five minutes to self-destruct.
What about the other levels?
Can't tell. Each sector seals off when it's contaminated, even the elevator.
The defense system is perfect.
It'll even bury our mistakes.
What about the central core?
The core's equipped with safeguards. Like what?
Gas, lasers, to prevent escape of lab animals.
- What would my chances be? - They don't exist for anyone anywhere if you stay here.
How do I get into the core? Through that service port.
Go ahead. I'll ride shotgun for you in main control.
I can't monitor the lasers here.
Karen, get me a scalpel.
There are now four minutes and 30 seconds to self-destruct.
Cut it off! Cut the panel off.
Karen, cut it!
Come on. Hurry up.
Hey, Doc, you ain't leavin' us here, are ya?
The lasers are tuned low for small animals, Mark.
You can make it if you're not hit along the spinal cord.
There are now four minutes to self-destruct.
That's the ladder across from you. Go before the gas starts.
There are now three minutes and 30 seconds...
to self-destruct. That's the gas. Keep going.
The sensors have picked you up. Get moving.
Duck!
Keep going.
Duck!
Keep going.
Duck!
There are now three minutes to self-destruct.
No, it's no good.
The level's contaminated. You'll have to go to 3.
Go to 3!
There are now two minutes and 45 seconds to self-destruct.
Sway! Weave!
You're zeroed in. Duck!
There are now two minutes and 30 seconds...
to self-destruct.
Keep going! You'll make it.
There are now two minutes and 15 seconds to self-destruct.
Fight the effect. It's mostly shock.
You've lost some time, but you can still do it. See the door?
There are now two minutes to self-destruct.
There is now one minute and 45 seconds...
to self-destruct.
There is now one minute and 30 seconds...
to self-destruct.
There is now... You're in an airlock.
Turn the wheel. one minute and 15 seconds to self-destruct.
No, not that one. The one near the door.
There are now 60 seconds to self-destruct.
There are now 55 seconds to self-destruct.
There are now 50 seconds to self-destruct.
Where is it? There are now...
45 seconds to self-destruct. Come on. Where is it?
Help me!
There are now 40 seconds to self-destruct.
There are now 35 seconds to self-destruct.
There are now 30 seconds to self-destruct.
There are now 25 seconds to self-destruct.
Twenty seconds, 19, 18, 17,
16, 15,
14, 13, 12,
11, 10, 9...
Self-destruct has been canceled.
Congratulations.
I take it the bomb didn't...
No, it didn't.
Eight seconds to spare. Hardly even exciting.
What's happening?
The supercolony's now off the coast...
and moving southwest across the Pacific.
Apparently Andromeda hasn't turned lethal again.
At least there haven't been any reports of bizarre deaths.
We're applying an adaptation of your antidote to it.
Cloud seeding. We're seeding the clouds above Andromeda...
with silver iodide.
The raindrops will carry the organism into the ocean,
and the alkaline reaction from seawater should kill it.
Just as acids or alkali in the blood stopped it.
This cloud seeding business, you absolutely sure it worked?
You better be. All reports indicate the experiment was successful.
Then we can feel confident your so-called biological crisis is over?
As far as Andromeda's concerned, yes.
We have the organism at Wildfire and we continue to study it.
We now know beyond a doubt that other forms of life exist in the universe.
- Thanks to Scoop. - Yes.
However, with this new knowledge, there's no guarantee...
that another so-called biological crisis won't occur again.
Hmm.
What do we do about that?
Precisely, Senator.
What do we do?